Humanism, Secularism, Feminism

Taslima Nasreen

Taslima Nasreen, an award-winning writer, physician, secular humanist and human rights activist, is known for her powerful writings on women oppression and unflinching criticism of religion, despite forced exile and multiple fatwas calling for her death. In India, Bangladesh and abroad, Nasreen’s fiction, nonfiction, poetry and memoir have topped the best-seller’s list.

Taslima Nasreen was born in Bangladesh. She started writing when she was 13. Her writings won the hearts of people across the border and she landed with the prestigious literary award Ananda from India in 1992. Taslima won The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought from the European Parliament in 1994. She received the Kurt Tucholsky Award from Swedish PEN, the Simone de Beauvoir Award and Human Rights Award from Government of France, Le Prix de l' Edit de Nantes from the city of Nantes, France, Academy prize from the Royal Academy of arts, science and literature from Belgium. She is a Humanist Laureate in The International Academy for Humanism,USA. She won Distinguished Humanist Award from International Humanist and Ethical Union, Free-thought Heroine award from Freedom From Religion foundation, USA., IBKA award, Germany,and Feminist Press Award, USA . She got the UNESCO Madanjeet Singh prize for Promotion of the Tolerance and Non-violence in 2005. She received the Medal of honor of Lyon. She got honorary citizenship from Paris, Nantes, Lyon, Metz, Thionville, Esch etc. Taslima was awarded the Condorcet-Aron Prize at the “Parliament of the French Community of Belgium” in Brussels and Ananda literary award again in 2000.

Bestowed with honorary doctorates from Gent University and UCL in Belgium, and American University of Paris and Paris Diderot University in France, she has addressed gatherings in major venues of the world like the European Parliament, National Assembly of France, Universities of Sorbonne, Oxford, Harvard, Yale, etc. She got fellowships as a research scholar at Harvard and New York Universities. She was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow in the USA in 2009.

Taslima has written 35 books in Bengali, which includes poetry, essays, novels and autobiography series. Her works have been translated in thirty different languages. Some of her books are banned in Bangladesh. Because of her thoughts and ideas she has been banned, blacklisted and banished from Bengal, both from Bangladesh and West Bengal part of India. She has been prevented by the authorities from returning to her country since 1994, and to West Bengal since 2007.

EVENTS

‘Don’t dress like this in Muslim area. No alcohol in this area, it’s a Muslim area. Move yourself away from the mosque, go away now, don’t come back, keep your mouth closed. We don’t respect them who disobey god.’

‘Mate, don’t you know this is a Muslim area. What’s wrong with your face? you’re walking through a Muslim area dressed like a fag. You need to get out of here. This is a Muslim area. You’re gay mate, get out of here you bloody fag. You can’t stay around here anymore.’

After seeing these videos, non-Muslims started protesting in UK. Muslims tried to avoid by saying, “The actions of this tiny minority (Muslim Patrol) have no place in our faith nor on our streets. We will monitor the situation closely and our Imams will be speaking out against such actions.” Muslim Patrol may be a tiny organisation, but their actions certainly have a place in Islam. Islam neither accepts women’s rights, nor accepts gay rights.

Many Muslims in UK are ready to create enclaves in major cities where, they believe, sharia will one day be implemented. Some areas in London are declared “sharia-controlled zone” as part of a new “Islamic Emirates Project”.

This is alarming.
Now the good news is, two Muslim patrol men who harassed gays are arrested. I was happy but Maryam made me wake up! She wrote:

This type of harassment and abuse (at best) is meted out day in and day out against “Muslims” who are “improperly dressed”, who are gay, who are ex-Muslim, who are dissenters, who question or criticise Sharia law….

But there are never any arrests of officials from far-Right Islamic organisations and Sharia judges and courts…

In fact outsourcing social control to religious organisations is encouraged by the British government .

This time, it all went horribly wrong only because they targeted non-Muslims.

As the spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain says in opposing the “Muslim Patrols” – all their threats and intimidations – applies only to Muslims.

Then, as we have heard countless times, Islamist bigotry, discrimination and violence must be “respected” no matter how many are abused, threatened, intimidated, or who refuse and resist.

Talk about different standards and rights for different people…

This is so true! I know it so well! When Muslim fundamentalists attack me for my thoughts and ideas, most non-Muslims keep their mouth shut or say, ‘the fight is between Muslims! We should not interfere in Muslim affairs!’ Muslim fundamentalists who issued fatwas against me, or set price on my head, or attacked me physically were never arrested.